


No Secrets

by angellwings



Series: You Are Mine [3]
Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Confessions, F/M, Follow up to "True North", Friendship/Love, One Shot, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:13:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24996664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angellwings/pseuds/angellwings
Summary: “Oh, good,” Severide says as he stands from his seat at the dining room table and folds up his paper. “Brett’s here. Maybe she can get you out of your funk.”“What?” Sylvie asks as she helps Stella put away groceries. “What’s wrong?”“He’s whining again.”“I was shot twice. I think I’m allowed to whine a little!”Stella and Sylvie trade looks and then Stella claps her hands while speaking up decisively. She reminds Matt of a camp counselor. “Okay, clearly today we need separate corners for the man-babies.”Sylvie laughs and it brightens Matt’s grumpy mood ever so slightly.Kidd points at Severide and then the door. “You and I are going out tonight. I’m getting you away from Grumpy Gus before this turns into your annual blow out and I have to live with you two silent sad sacks for a whole week.”That’s accurate. If Matt wasn’t so pissed at the bullet holes in his neck and shoulder he’d laugh. Stella hit the nail on the head.“I’ll keep Mr. Cabin Fever company,” Sylvie volunteers.
Relationships: Sylvie Brett/Matthew Casey
Series: You Are Mine [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1807126
Comments: 41
Kudos: 159





	No Secrets

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N:** This is the last of the 3 prompts in my Twitter challenge game from Friday! No Frozen title this time, guys. Sorry! Haha. As usual, you can check the note at the end for the prompts!
> 
> This one is directly connected to the previous two one shots so if you haven’t then you may want to go back and read “Holding on Tight to You” and “True North”! They’re quick and I’ve made them a part of a series with this one. So if you click on the series title link (“You Are Mine”) you should be able to find them easily!
> 
> Happy reading!
> 
> xoxo
> 
> PS - thanks to katertots for her help with a huge moment at the end! She is literally the best and you should go read all her fics RIGHT now.

_******_

_“You can tell me anything,_

_No judgement, just listening._

_Got no secrets, no._

_You can put your hand on my heart,_

_I'll swear to you honestly,_

_Nothing but the truth,_

_Is all that you'll get from me.”_

_-“No Secrets” by The Shires_

_******_

“Having to sit around this apartment is going to kill me long before the job ever does,” Matt announces to the room as his head falls onto the back of the couch. “I hate this.”

“You think it’s any easier for those of us stuck sharing the place with you?” Severide asks him dryly. “You’re a whiny wounded bastard.”

Matt flips him off just as the front door opens. Stella and Brett walk in with bags of groceries and laughing smiles.

“Oh, good,” Severide says as he stands from his seat at the dining room table and folds up his paper. “Brett’s here. Maybe she can get you out of your funk.”

“What?” Sylvie asks as she helps Stella put away groceries. “What’s wrong?”

“He’s whining again.”

“I was shot twice. I think I’m allowed to whine a little!”

Stella and Sylvie trade looks and then Stella claps her hands while speaking up decisively. She reminds Matt of a camp counselor. “Okay, clearly today we need separate corners for the man-babies.”

Sylvie laughs and it brightens Matt’s grumpy mood ever so slightly. 

Kidd points at Severide and then the door. “You and I are going out tonight. I’m getting you away from Grumpy Gus before this turns into your annual blow out and I have to live with you two silent sad sacks for a whole week.”

Damn. That’s accurate. If Matt wasn’t so pissed at the bullet holes in his neck and shoulder he’d laugh. Stella hit the nail on the head.

“I’ll keep Mr. Cabin Fever company,” Sylvie volunteers.

“I don’t understand why I can’t just go _sit_ at the Firehouse.” Matt says in frustration. “I could hang out in the bullpen--”

“No!” Three separate voices shouted at him.

“We all know sitting and observing is not in your nature,” Sylvie says kindly. “You’d sit and stew and end up angrier than you are right now.”

“You’d be angry too if you were off the job for a damn month.”

“Oh, cry me a river, Matthew. I was off the job for a whole three months after I broke my arm. Do you think I enjoyed that?” Sylvie asks him with a scolding glare. “It’s for your own good now suck it up and deal.”

Stella and Kelly’s eyes widened before they traded impressed and amused glances.

Embarrassment colors Matt’s cheeks while he nods in resignation and answers her in a sheepish voice. “Yes, ma’am.”

He deserved that. 

Sylvie and Stella finish putting away the groceries and then Stella and Kelly head out. Sylvie’s been coming over nearly every day for the last week to visit with him and make sure he doesn’t do anything too strenuous. That eventually turned into her doing things she didn’t have to do around the apartment. He appreciates it more than she knows, but he feels terribly guilty every time she does a load of laundry or washes the dishes or makes him a sandwich. He could probably do those things for himself if anyone would let him.

Conveniently, he thinks, it also keeps her busy and away from him. Well, convenient for her. Not him. Keeping herself busy also never gives him an opportunity to ask her to dinner like he promised himself he would. If either of those bullets had gone just a centimeter in the other direction he’d be six feet under right now. But they didn’t and he’s not. 

The close call did bring some things to his attention that he’d been too scared to do, though, and those things needed to be rectified immediately. The first is asking Brett out to dinner. They had a brief conversation in the hospital but she wouldn’t let him say much since he was thoroughly tripping on whatever painkiller they gave him at Med.

But since he came off of the meds she’s been a busy whirlwind. Always around but never too close. He can’t tell if she’s avoiding it or just keeping herself occupied so she doesn’t think too much about the fact that he almost died. Maybe a combination of both.

She whizzes by the back of the couch for the third time since Severide and Kidd left, heading for the laundry room. When she comes back he reaches out the arm connected to his good shoulder and catches her slender fingers.

“You need to sit for a while. Please? You’re always on your feet,” he says, giving her his best beseeching gaze. “Between here and work I’m amazed you’re still standing upright.” She bites her bottom lip, thoughtfully, but he can tell she’s about to come up with some excuse while she can’t so he continues. “Come on, I’ve been stuck here all alone for the last twenty four hours. At least sit long enough to tell me how your shift went.”

That does it. Her eyes go soft and sympathetic, and she squeezes his hand as she agrees with a nod.

She sits next to him on the couch, careful to choose his uninjured side.

“Are you sure you want to hear about shift?” She asks him with a teasing grin. “You’re grouchy enough as it is.”

He chuckles. “I honestly don’t care what we talk about, as long as we talk.”

She bites her bottom lip but he can see the corners of her mouth lifting in a shy smile. Her fingers idly fiddle with her watch band. “I’m sorry you’re stuck at home for a while. I know you’re not used to taking it easy.”

He scoffs. “If I’m not at the Firehouse then I’m usually on a construction site. In this condition I can’t do either of those things. Thank goodness I wasn’t in the middle of any jobs before I was shot.”

Sylvie continues to avoid his eyes and blows out a shaky breath. “How about thank goodness those bullets weren’t a couple inches higher or lower?”

His hand covers hers and squeezes. “That too.”

“Matt—“

“Sylvie—“

They both start at once and stop with an awkward laugh. 

“You go ahead,” Sylvie says with a bashful grin and pink cheeks.

“I was just gonna point out that I’m on the bare minimum of pain medication,” he tells her with a sly smirk. 

Her eyes widen and her blush intensifies. “Is that so?”

“It is, and if I remember correctly you said I could ask you to dinner when they dropped my dosage.”

The relief in her expression overflows into her entire body. Every muscle she has seems to relax and if he’s not mistaken she leans a little further into his space. His theory that she’d been keeping busy to avoid this conversation seems more valid than ever. Did she _really_ think he’d forget something like that?

“You _do_ remember,” she says, running a hand through her shoulder length blonde hair and _finally_ looking up at him.

“There wasn’t any chance I’d forget. I don’t care how high I was. I tried to ask you out over a year ago and failed miserably so a second shot at it is not something I’m gonna take for granted.”

Her brow furrows and she stares at him thoughtfully. “Over a year ago? When _exactly_ was this?”

He sighs and then laughs at himself ruefully. “The shift before the Chaplain proposed.”

She gasps and recognition floods her face. “That was what you kept trying to talk to me about?” At his nod, she narrows her eyes at him. “That was the same day you told me you thought Kyle and I were good together. Oh, if you weren’t hurt already I would smack you! I thought you were interested but then that threw me completely off! I didn’t know what to think!”

He winces and glances at her with what he hopes is an apology in his eyes. “I walked in and saw you with Sheffield and I just...chickened out. I thought you were getting back together and I didn’t want to get in the middle of anything. I don’t know. It was a combination of lame excuses that led to me putting my foot in my mouth. I felt like a jackass after he proposed. Like I’d bungled my only shot — _especially_ after you told me…”

“That it was your words that helped me decide to say yes,” she finishes as she hesitantly slides her hand into his, almost as if she were dipping a toe into untested waters. His embarrassment eases as her fingers intertwine with his. “Yeah. I can imagine. God, Matt, I thought...I thought you didn’t want me. If I’d have known that you were interested at all saying yes to Kyle would have been a hell of a lot harder.” Her eyes leave his for a long moment to study their joined hands. She looks regretful as she presses on. “Honestly, I shouldn’t have said yes at all.”

He isn’t going to disagree with that but he has to admit he’s curious. “Why did you?”

She releases a deep sigh and rolls her eyes at herself. “I thought maybe I wasn’t seeing things clearly and Kyle really was the one and if he _was_ how stupid would I be to turn him down? Bottom line, I didn’t trust myself and last summer was the most miserable summer of my life. I knew I’d made a mistake the minute we left Chicago but I was too stubborn and embarrassed to admit it. I mean, two failed engagements? Jesus, just the _thought_ of all the Runaway Bride jokes was mortifying enough. So I tried to _make_ it work. I thought I’d just fake it and eventually it wouldn’t feel like I was lying to myself anymore.”

“Yeah,” Matt says slowly. God, is that ever relatable. Been there, done that. “That never works. Trust me.”

She squeezes his hand with a sympathetic smile. “Let me guess, Gabby?”

“Not at first,” he says with a tired huff. “But by the end, yeah. We were lying to ourselves and each other. It’d been unraveling for a while and no matter what we did we couldn’t stop it. Looking back, I’m glad she saw that and left. God knows I never would have. I would’ve stayed until I had nothing left and not for the right reasons. I was determined we wouldn’t turn out like my parents’ marriage or hers either for that matter. So determined that I blinded myself to reality. Again and again and again.” He clears his throat and sheepishly rubs the back of his neck. “That includes her last visit, by the way. She left me a voicemail the day she left town and...it hit me how habitual and unhealthy the whole thing was.”

“Habitual and unhealthy,” Sylvie repeats with a dry chuckle. “Sounds familiar. I think you’ve just described all of my exes but Kyle and Joe.”

He laughs softly and squeezes her hand. “Jesus, we’re a pair, huh?”

Her smile turns warm and she shrugs. “So, we’ve made some mistakes. I like to think I’ve learned a pretty valuable lesson from each one. It could have been something new about myself or what I want and what I deserve; the lesson changed every time, but I think they all made me a better, more confident person.”

“And there it is,” he says, fondly.

“There what is?” She asks, meeting his bright gaze with her confused one.

He thinks back to the hospital room last week and smirks at her. “Relentless optimism.”

She blushes again and angles herself toward her while tucking her legs underneath her. “I just hate to think we went through all that pain for nothing. It had to be leading us somewhere or helping us find something. It couldn’t have been pain for the sake of pain, you know?”

God, he’d give anything to see the world the way she does. If you subscribe to her theory then there’s beauty even in darkness. That’s always been a difficult concept for him, but when Sylvie explains it…

He has to admit it makes sense.

“You really do impress me, you know? The closer I get the more impressive you are,” he says, letting the wonder he feels seep into his words.

“Right back at you,” she says. “Honest and dependable is hard to come by these days. I don’t think you realize that. The more I learn about you the more I think you’re the _best_ person I’ve ever known.”

The way those words fill him up so completely should be impossible. He knows he’s not invincible but in this moment, he feels like he is. His wounds hurt less which doesn’t make sense but he’s not about to question it. Who needs painkillers when they’ve got Sylvie Brett?

But that feeling deflates a little as she continues. “I think that’s part of why I’ve been so hesitant. I don’t want to lose you and I’m afraid I might. Every other relationship I’ve had has completely imploded. I don’t want that to happen with you.”

“That wouldn’t happen,” he promises.

She scoffs and gives him a bemused look. “What makes you so sure about that?”

“Before I ever wanted to be anything else to you, I wanted to be your friend _first_. That’s not gonna change if it doesn’t work out,” he tells her. “I mean, come on, look at you and Cruz. I think it’s kind of impossible _not_ to like you, Sylvie. No matter the circumstances.”

Heat rises to her cheeks and she swallows thickly. “You make an excellent point, but all I can think about is how badly I _do not_ want this to be another Joe Cruz situation.” She wrinkles her nose at him and shudders dramatically. “Nope. Not feeling a thing platonic about you and I am not enjoying imaging that I might someday.”

The laugh that leaves his throat is the loudest he’s laughed in months. Maybe he’s being overly optimistic, but it’s a laugh that almost feels life changing. He doesn’t know where any of this conversation might lead them, but he’s enjoying it too much to care. 

“Well, that’s certainly encouraging,” he tells her with a wide smile.

“You know,” she says coyly. “You still haven’t actually asked me out.”

“Am I allowed to now?” He asks, teasingly.

“You’re not high, are you?”

“No,” he answers with a chuckle.

“And I’m not drunk,” she tells him with a cheeky grin. “So yes, you’re allowed.”

“Sylvie,” he starts while tightening his hold on her hand. “Would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?”

“I would love to,” she answers, unable to contain her glowing smile. 

He can’t help but reflect a smile back at her. “That only took us twelve months.”

She laughs. “Better late than never.”

“As long as I don’t have to wait another twelve months to kiss you -- on the lips, just to be clear,” he teases with narrowed eyes. “Don’t think I’m forgetting that cop out of a kiss from the--”

In a moment he never senses coming, Sylvie springs forward and cuts off his sentence with a kiss. It’s firm and lingering and sends electricity sizzling across his skin. Like that night at Severide’s cabin, her hands frame his face but that’s where the comparison to that particular night ends. Her fingers curl around his jaw and her thumbs caress his cheeks while her lips move against his. She doesn’t deepen the kiss like he wishes she would. Instead, she pulls back to meet his eyes. 

“You were doped up and under the influence then,” she tells him softly, never letting her mouth stray too far from his. He can feel the brush of her lips as she speaks. It’s a delicious kind of torture. “But now that you’re not…”

That’s a leading sentence if he’s ever heard one. He knows exactly what she’s waiting for and after the brief taste he’s just had there’s no way in hell he’s holding out on her now. 

He closes the microscopic gap she left between them, diving in for a second kiss. This one deepens. Their lips part and their tongues tangle. Christ, they really should have done this a long time ago. 

He’s this close to laying her back on the couch cushions and stretching out above her when two things happen. One, there’s a twinge in his shoulder that stings just enough to pull him out from under the spell of their kiss and, two, he hears the unmistakable sound of a doorknob turning. Through Sylvie’s hazy look of concern he sees her register the noise too. They bolt upright, Sylvie frantically straightens her clothes, and Matt hurriedly wipes the lip gloss from his mouth.

Stella steps through, humming to herself, completely oblivious to both of them.

“Can you believe we got halfway to the restaurant before Kelly realized he forgot his wallet?” Stella asks her friends with a chuckle and a roll of her eyes. “Honestly, what would that man do without me.” She freezes and squints before pointing a finger at them. “What have you two gotten up to since we left?”

“Nothing,” Sylvie says hurriedly. “Just...you know talking. Matt asked for a rundown of what happened on Shift.”

“Of course he did,” Stella says, lifting a brow at Matt. “Do you ever think of anything besides work?”

He nearly laughs. That’s exactly what he was trying to do before Kidd barged into the room. “Not often, no,” he answers.

“Well, whatever you do,” Stella warns Brett as she swipes Kelly’s wallet off the kitchen counter. “Don’t tell him about what his relief captain almost did with the Jaws.”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Sylvie replies.

“See you guys later!” Kidd calls over her shoulder as the door closes again.

There’s a singular silent beat before Sylvie turns toward him again and starts to lean in. “Now,” she says, grinning wickedly. “Where were we?”

He places his hands on her shoulders to stop her forward movement as worry preoccupies him, against his will. “Wait. What happened to the Jaws? The last thing I need is some floater Captain ruining my tools.”

Sylvie makes a sound that’s a combination of a groan and a laugh. “You’re not gonna move past this until I tell you, are you?”

“Sorry, no,” he says self-consciously. “You sure you still want to date me?”

“Yes, I am, but I think I’m going to have to murder Stella later.”

“Understandable,” he agrees. “I won’t rat you out to Severide.”

“I appreciate that.”

“But seriously, what happened to the Jaws?”

**Author's Note:**

>  **A/N:** 28-secret kiss
> 
> 8- “Cry me a river.”
> 
> 13- “You need to sit for a while. Please? You’re always on your feet.”


End file.
